Nothing to be afraid of
by countrypanther14
Summary: When Ava starts showing that she's afraid of thunder, Danny has to calm her down and find out why. But what happens when Ava's mother, the Red Tiger shows up? Sorry if the summary sucks. I own nothing, but the OC, and it's rated to be safe and for some hurtful words. Ava/Danny. Read and Review.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! This is, you guessed it, another Iron Tiger oneshot. If you've read my previous one, 'Poison,' I'll update on that soon. But any who, R&R.  
**

* * *

The rain fell in buckets as lightning split the sky in two. Ava sat on her bed, curled into a ball, rocking back and forth, back and forth, trying to keep from shaking out of fear and cold. Thunder roared throughout the small room, making the already terrified tiger cover her ears and stifle a scream.

Don't worry Ava, she thought, watching as the lightning outside lit up her room for a few seconds, It's only a little thunder, it won't hurt you. She felt herself start to relax as the rain continued to fall; the thunder roared again, and she let out a terrified squeak as she kept rocking. Stupid girl, she told herself mentally, Who's afraid of thunder anyway? No one but me. She laid down on her bed and pulled her blankets over her head, Why do I have to be afraid of thunder anyway? she asked herself.

* * *

When morning rolled around, Ava had just managed to get to sleep before her alarm went off,

"Hey Ava," Danny said as he pulled the blankets off of her, "Time to get up."

Ava groaned and tried to pull her blankets back, "No," she groaned, "I don't want to get up."

"Time to get up," Luke said, "We have school today."

Ava groaned and sat up slowly, giving the boys a look of pure murder as she moved her hair off her face. "Get out of my room you jerks!" she yelled, throwing a pillow at both of them.

"What was that about?" Sam asked,

"Ava just woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Luke said,

"Well, she'll apologize later." Sam said, "Now come on, breakfast is ready."

* * *

When the day and the team's daily SHIELD training were over, Ava collapsed onto her bed and took off her White Tiger mask; she didn't even remember falling asleep, just a feeling almost as if she was being strangled. She saw Kraven's face in her dreams, strangling her, almost as if he was hunting her down in her dreams. The thunder was what woke her up before she stopped her breathing; when her eyes bolted open, she looked around her room and sat up, rain pouring down in sheets outside her window. When tears formed in her eyes, she let them roll down her face as she curled up into a ball again on her bed; she buried her face in her knees, and started crying, stifling screams when the thunder roared outside.

"Ava," Danny called softly from the hallway, "Ava? Are you okay?" the door opened and Danny was standing there in his usual red shirt and grey sweatpants. "Ava," he said; he walked over to her and sat down at the edge of her bed, "What's wrong?" he rubbed her back gently as he tried to soothe the crying tiger, "Are you sick?" he tried to feel her forehead, only to have Ava swat his hand away.

"No," she sniffed, "It's nothing. It was just a nightmare,"

The thunder roared again and she let out a startled yelp as Danny chuckled a little bit, "Really?" he snickered, "It looks like you're afraid of thunder."

Ava looked up at him with teary brown eyes that said 'Shut up or be clawed' as the thunder roared again outside and she covered her ears.

"Why are you so afraid of thunder?" he asked' "It's nothing to be afraid of. It won't hurt you."

Ava almost said something as Coulson came over their communicators and said to continue training with Peter. "I'll tell you about it later," she said.

* * *

Training in the park was getting a little tough, people kept sliding around in the rain. When Ava tried to get Peter, the thunder roared again and she tensed up mid leap; she landed hard on her ankle and crashed into Peter's motorcycle, feeling pain shoot through her body as she tumbled backwards and fell into the pond.

"Ava!" Peter gasped,

Danny felt his body tense up at the sound of Ava's name and ran to her, sliding around in the mud.

Luke and Sam pulled Ava out of the water as she sputtered and coughed, "Are you okay?" Peter asked,

"Yeah, I'm fine." she coughed,

"I think it's safe to say that training can be cut short." Luke said.

* * *

When everyone got back to Peter's house, Ava got dressed into her pajamas and took Peter's laptop from him as Sam and Luke played their video games and Danny meditated; basically what they did everyday after training.

Ava didn't remember falling asleep, just the feeling of someone taking Peter's computer off of her lap and covering her with a blanket, and judging by the smell of incense, it must have been Danny. She felt calm, almost as if Danny's smell took away her stress as he played with her hair; she felt his hands run over her ear, running over a piece of sensitive flesh that would make her purr like a cat, Please don't scratch me behind the ear, she prayed silently. Sure enough, she felt Danny scratch her behind the ear, making her purr and swat his hand away again; she opened her eyes and looked at him, but odds were she was still half asleep, because he chuckled a little bit as she turned over and yawned, "Don't scratch me behind the ear," she mumbled, "You know I hate that."

"If you hated it, you wouldn't have purred in the first place." he said.

"Just let me sleep." she mumbled; she felt Danny fix the blanket that was covering her feet as she fell back to sleep.

* * *

"You stupid girl!" her mother shouted, "Why didn't you save him?! Why did you let that monster take him away?!"

"I didn't mean to." Ava whimpered, "I didn't know what to do, it's not my fault."

The thunder roared outside her house as her mother slapped her,

"You did nothing, because you're a coward." her mother hissed, "Kraven should've taken you, not your father. Julian would've made a better White Tiger."

The thunder roared again as she stood up, "I'm not a coward!" she screamed, "Dad gave it to me because he wanted me to be the White Tiger."

Her mother scoffed, and pulled a blade, "I don't know why I have to keep doing Kraven's work sometimes." she hissed, "You're nothing compared to your father, or his father before him." she lunged forward-

Ava screamed when she woke up, no longer keeping them hidden as the thunder roared outside, she felt someone slap her across the face, hard; she looked up and saw everyone, Danny, Luke, Sam, and Peter, all standing either in the doorway or closer to her bed. When she felt tears prick in her eyes, Danny stepped in a little closer,

"Hey," he said softly, "You're okay. You don't have to cry." he wiped her tears away with the back of his hands as she bit her lip to keep it from quivering, "Luke, why'd you have to hit her like that?" he asked, pulling Ava into his lap.

"I was just trying to wake her up," Luke defended,

"Yeah, I know that. But-" the thunder roared outside and Ava screamed his as he hushed her and tried to keep her calm, "You're okay Ava," he soothed, "You're okay, it's only a little thunder. It won't hurt you."

Ava whimpered and shook her head, muttering for something to stop.

"You're okay," Peter said softly, "You're with us, you're safe.

Ava whimpered again as Danny continued to rub her back soothingly, "You guys can go now," she said, lifting herself out of Danny's lap, "I'm fine." She laid back down on her bed and kept her back turned to the boys,

The boys muttered that she was weird and left, but Danny stayed a few minutes longer, still rubbing her back, "G'night Ava." he whispered; he kissed the side of her head and left, leaving Ava to cry softly in her sleep.

* * *

**That's it for this chapter, I'll add more later. R&R.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the next chapter, as usual R&R.  
**

* * *

Danny followed Peter back to his room and resumed his spot on the floor, covering his feet with a blanket.

"What was that about?" Peter asked,

"I don't know," Danny yawned, "She's never done that before. Not even when she joined SHIELD."

"What happened when she joined SHIELD?" Peter asked,

"We don't know, she never talks about it." Danny shrugged, "And whenever she does, she doesn't tell us much."

"Well, don't you go into other peoples dreams or something?" Peter asked, "Maybe you can sneak into hers and find out what she's hiding."

"No," Danny said firmly, "She'll get mad. Besides, that drains half my chi energy."

"Well we have to try something," Peter said, "We were lucky that Aunt May was out tonight, if she wasn't, we would have a hard time explaining."

"Parker, I'm not rooting through Ava's dreams and that's final." Danny said, laying back down, "Good night."

* * *

The thunder roared as the Red Tiger walked into the SHIELD prisons, "Kraven," she purred. "Kraven, are you in here?"

"What is it now...Red Tiger?" Kraven growled.

"You know how much more powerful my daughter has become, but yet, she's still so weak..." she leaned against his cell door, "But yet, you don't kill her. You had the chance, but you didn't, why?"

"You said it yourself," Kraven chuckled, "White Tiger's a lot more powerful than before, I'll get to it."

"You said that the last time," Red Tiger hissed, "But yet you sit in here, doing nothing."

"I'll get to it." Kraven snarled, "It's not exactly easy to escape from here."

Red Tiger purred, walking through the door as she pulled her mask over her nose and kissed him, "You have to do this Kraven," she purred, "Otherwise I will. And you won't get to keep that amulet." she licked his cheek as he reached into his back pocket,

"I'll kill you for the amulet, but you have the advantage of killing White Tiger. You have to do it." he said; he placed the knife into her hand, "Press down on the hilt to activate the blade."

"I know how this works," she hissed, "I used this before to almost kill her the first time." she stuck the knife into her back pocket and went into the hallway, almost like a ghost.

"Good luck Red Tiger," Kraven smiled, "You'll need it."

* * *

(Weeks later)

Ava sat in the bathtub as she washed her hair, feeling her tension leave her as the bubbles around her popped. She slid under the water's surface to rinse her hair, only to feel her eyelids become heavy as she came back up; she reached for a towel and got out of the tub, letting the water run down the drain as she went back to her room and got into her pajamas.

"Hey Ava," Sam called through the door, "Can I borrow your algebra notes?"

"Can it wait? I just got out of the bathtub." she said, pulling on a pair of shorts as Sam came in, "Dude!" she yelped, throwing her algebra text book at him, almost hitting his leg, "Get out of here."

Sam picked up the textbook and went back to the living room as Ava slammed the door behind him.

"Idiot," she hissed at herself. She went to her vanity and picked up her hair brush, running it through her hair as something touched the back of her leg; she jumped and looked down, seeing a husky staring up at her with icy blue eyes. "Fang," she breathed, kneeling down to pat the husky on the head, "What are you doing? You scared m-" her eyes widened in fear, remembering that Fang was her dog back when she lived in Puerto Rico.

"Hello Ava," a voice hissed.

Ava looked up, only to be met with a sharp pain in the side of her head before everything went black.

* * *

**What will happen next? Stay tuned. R&R.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's the next chapter of 'Nothing to be afraid of' as usual R&R  
**

* * *

Ava woke up slowly on the floor, feeling as if someone had just set fire to the inside of her skull. "What?" she mumbled; she pushed herself up into a semi sitting position and saw that her White Tiger costume was missing, and replaced with one the color of crimson, and an onyx colored amulet was clipped to her belt. "No," she gasped, standing up, "Let me out!" she banged on the door as a dart hit her in the shoulder, making her groggy as she fell to the floor again.

"Stay down," a guard hissed, "I've been given strict orders by Fury to keep you under heavy sedation."

Ava groaned, pulling the dart from her shoulder, "Iron Fist," she muttered, "I want to talk to Iron Fist, bring him to me."

"Forget it," the guard hissed again, "You're a threat to him."

"Please," Ava begged, "I want to talk to Iron Fist."

The guard lowered his gun and looked at her, "Fine," he said, "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you." she breathed.

* * *

"Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Danny asked, hiding under his Iron Fist mask.

"I have some information about White Tiger, something that SHIELD doesn't know about her." Ava said, scratching at a spot on her head, growing warm and sticky with blood.

"Like what?" Danny asked, now interested.

"The fact that she's not White Tiger, I am." Ava said, pulling off her mom's mask, "She knocked me out and took my costume and amulet. Still don't believe me, the Buddha statue, that I gave you for you birthday, should still have my blood on it."

Danny looked at Ava, a smile growing across his face. He tried to stifle a laugh, but still let out a chuckle. "I'm sorry," he chuckled, "Am I supposed to believe that you're really Ava Ayala, when she claimed that you tried to kill her when she tried to join SHIELD."

"She did that to me." Ava said, "Besides, the White Tiger out there, doesn't know that you're a vegetarian. Or that you love to meditate, or the fact that-" She was immediately cut off my Danny pulling her into his arms, kissing at her bleeding wound.

"I know," he whispered into her hair, "I was kidding. I know that you know I'm all that stuff, you're the only one besides Luke that understands me."

_Oh my God, _she thought, her hands resting on Danny's chest, _He's making my heart race so fast. _she swallowed, feeling as if her heart would pound out of her chest, _Am I...? No, I can't be falling in love with him, I just can't. Oh, but I want to._ She felt the sharp pain from her head wound and winced,

"Oh, you still must be in pain from that wound." he said, wiping away blood that was running down her face, "Let's get you to the Medical bay."

* * *

After making sure Ava would make a full and quick recovery, Danny went back to his room and picked up his Buddha statue, finding sticky red blood on it, just like Ava had said. "Aw man," he said to himself, "She was telling the truth." he put the statue back down and looked at the blood.

"What's up Danny?" Luke asked,

"I think the White Tiger in the living room is a fake, and I'm saying that, because I just dropped Ava off at the medical bay."

"Really? She was in the living room just a-"

"The one wearing the red suit." Danny interrupted, "The one you saw was probably her mom."

"Well, we-" he felt a sharp pain hit his shoulder as he got knocked to the floor; he looked back up and saw Ava's mom standing over him, the statue in her hands. "What the heck is wrong with you?" he asked, moving his shoulder.

"You weren't supposed to find out." Red Tiger hissed, "You've been wrapped around her finger, and you believed her."

"I trust Ava," Danny hissed back, "And I'm not afraid of you."

"I am." Luke said, hiding at the foot of Danny's bed.

Red Tiger hissed and lunged at Danny, knocking him to the floor with the statue raised over her head.

Danny quickly lifted his knee up, and kicked Red Tiger hard in the stomach, dodging the statue as it fell to the floor. "Face it," he said, "You'll never replace the real Ava Ayala. There's only one, and that's the one that I trust." his face started to turn red, "Heck, she's the one I'm starting to fall in love with."

Red Tiger growled and stood up, holding her side as she unclipped Ava's tiger amulet from her belt, "Fine then," she hissed, "We'll just have to see who's left standing." she threw the amulet at Danny and teleported out of the room.

"Now what?" Luke asked.

* * *

**That's it for chapter three, R&R please**


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